Pattern

17°c today, which is 21°c lower than the maximum achieved here just two days ago. Whilst the bumblebees, protected by their “ hairy” bodies, were out and about, the smaller bees were very tentative about taking to the air.

I noticed a bee at its entrance hole, having a look out but showing no signs of flying. So I focussed on it. It was uncomfortable with my presence and retreated backwards. After that happened a few times I changed to a telephoto lens and stepped back. That worked better. My surprise on downloading the shots was seeing not one but two bees. How unobservant. And they must be different species, size and markings look very different - I am going to have to do some research.

Proper scientific research, recently published, suggests bees can differentiate individual human faces. As they see things very differently to us (they have five “ eyes”, cannot see red, but can see ultraviolet light) their view of how we each look must be very different to our perception of ourselves and others.